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If Logged into Facebook, Oculus VR Data Will Now Be Used for Ads

extremetech.com

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Re: If Logged into Facebook, Oculus VR Data Will Now Be Used for Ads

#91

Post by kick »

t-writescode wrote: post #80
normalnorm wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We all know exactly what they do. I don't care what the OP does specifically, they are collaborating in building something that makes the world worse for all of us. > there is ABSOLUTELY a place in this world for advertising on the internet I have no idea what this means. What I do know is that adtech turns everything it touches into shit.

You’re right, we do know what they do. They probably work on the video game Beat Sabre. (recently bought by Facebook). Facebook is a large company, and I hate them just fine; but I don’t hate all of their employees and not all of their employees are evil.

They specified that they work on ad systems.

Re: If Logged into Facebook, Oculus VR Data Will Now Be Used for Ads

#92

Post by wgerard »

Ajedi32 wrote: post #76
Nextgrid wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your systems are sophisticated enough to make people believe their phones are listening to them in the background even when that's not the case. So even if you think they are primitive, a lot of people thinks they're more than sophisticated enough to be creepy.

Is there any evidence to suggest those rumors are actually the result of unusually high levels of sophistication on the part of Facebook's ad targeting systems, and not just an artifact of confirmation bias and the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon?

Not really, the truth is likely much more mundane: People are fairly predictable [1] and their predilections aren't that unique [2].

1: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-targ...

2: Real conversation I overheard: "I was talking to my friend about buying a switch and the very next day I got FB ads for it!" - well duh, it's the holiday season and game consoles are very popular gifts.

Re: If Logged into Facebook, Oculus VR Data Will Now Be Used for Ads

#93

Post by colejohnson66 »

cowpig wrote: post #89
adgineer wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Feels pretty good to subsidize internet access in the developing world and serve as the primary growth engine for millions of small businesses who wouldn't otherwise be able to reach their customers at such a low cost.

> subsidize internet access in the developing world Are you talking about Facebook's abuse of power to strengthen its monopoly position in developing nations? If so, 83% of voters in the USA thinks what you are describing as "subsidy" should be illegal here[1], and it would better be described as neo-colonialism than a subsidy. Is there some other way in which facebook is "subsidizing internet access"? [1] https://th…

I don’t think OP is talking net neutrality, but Internet.org

Re: If Logged into Facebook, Oculus VR Data Will Now Be Used for Ads

#94

Post by cowpig »

colejohnson66 wrote: post #86
cowpig wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Telling someone that what they do for a living makes the world a worse place is neither a personal insult nor hating. Social pressure is one of the principal ways we stop people from making self-interested decisions that are detrimental to the group.

It is an insult because you’re attacking them for what they do.

If that's how you want to define "insult," then I disagree that we shouldn't do it.

You shouldn't attack people for who they are, or anything outside of their control (race, gender, etc)

But for choices they make, that affect other people? These are exactly the things you should judge people for

Re: If Logged into Facebook, Oculus VR Data Will Now Be Used for Ads

#95

Post by Nextgrid »

colejohnson66 wrote: post #84
aphextron wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>FB ads engineer here. Just wanted to stop by and say that your work is actively making the world a worse place to live, and you should feel bad about it. I hope those RSUs are worth your soul.

Wow. I can’t imagine hating someone simply because of who they work with. Is everyone working at BP complicit with the Gulf oil spill? Is everyone working at PG&E responsible for the fires? No. That’s absurd. Anyways, I’m not a mod, but I did flag your comment because you’re breaking two site rules: > Be kind. Don't be snarky. Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisiv…

The BP and PG&E cases were accidents. There might've been negligence but it still wasn't in their best interests to cause those accidents, and now that they happened they've got the opportunity to learn from it and hopefully not do this in the future.

The Facebook case is different. Them stalking people isn't an accident, it's the whole purpose of the company and what pays their bills. Despite seeing the negative effects of their behaviour on society and being given countless opportunities to learn and become less nasty they are continuing as if nothing happened.

Re: If Logged into Facebook, Oculus VR Data Will Now Be Used for Ads

#96

Post by apazzolini »

adgineer wrote: post #58
aphextron wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>FB ads engineer here. Just wanted to stop by and say that your work is actively making the world a worse place to live, and you should feel bad about it. I hope those RSUs are worth your soul.

Feels pretty good to subsidize internet access in the developing world and serve as the primary growth engine for millions of small businesses who wouldn't otherwise be able to reach their customers at such a low cost.

Apparently it doesn't feel good enough to post on a non-throwaway though.

Re: If Logged into Facebook, Oculus VR Data Will Now Be Used for Ads

#97

Post by Nextgrid »

t-writescode wrote: post #80
normalnorm wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We all know exactly what they do. I don't care what the OP does specifically, they are collaborating in building something that makes the world worse for all of us. > there is ABSOLUTELY a place in this world for advertising on the internet I have no idea what this means. What I do know is that adtech turns everything it touches into shit.

You’re right, we do know what they do. They probably work on the video game Beat Sabre. (recently bought by Facebook). Facebook is a large company, and I hate them just fine; but I don’t hate all of their employees and not all of their employees are evil.

> They probably work on the video game Beat Sabre. (recently bought by Facebook).

And now that it's bought guess what's the purpose of this game (hint: it's not about being a game, it's about collecting even more data and getting people addicted; the "game" part is just a side-effect).

At this point anyone that works at that toxic company is either naive or unethical. There's been way too many warning signs and incidents to figure out that anything they do is in one way or another to stalk people even more and waste their time with ads.

Re: If Logged into Facebook, Oculus VR Data Will Now Be Used for Ads

#98

Post by moretai »

gummydog wrote: post #78
optymizer wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whether ads (in general, or specifically FB ads) make the world a worse place is up for debate, but the casual hatred in your comment directed at this person is actually making this world a worse place to live in.

Facebook taught the world it's acceptable to communicate this way. Don't bore us with your well thought out comments.

No it didn't.

Re: If Logged into Facebook, Oculus VR Data Will Now Be Used for Ads

#99

Post by Nextgrid »

CJefferson wrote: post #54
adgineer wrote: post #48

FB ads engineer here. Every time I read these threads, I'm 1. Flattered by how sophisticated HN thinks our systems are (they're not. and we're not that smart. FB's A-team stopped working on ads a long time ago) 2. Entertained by how HN thinks ad targeting works (we don't want to know everything about YOU. we want to know basic info about all of our users.) Hypertargeting doesn't work. Targeting small audiences doesn'…

With regards your last paragraph, is there any evidence of this? Any place Facebook says "we do not, and will not, use information X for ad targeting"?

They claimed they would never use 2FA phone numbers for ad targeting (which I didn't believe to begin with)... and guess what, at some point they started using them for ads and when things blew up they issued a fake apology and continued as usual.

Re: If Logged into Facebook, Oculus VR Data Will Now Be Used for Ads

#100

Post by dceddia »

bagacrap wrote: post #43
tyfon wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They might, but they don't have facebooks apparatus or motivation for turning it into ads on unrelated web pages.

Do they need to own the apparatus? I search for a product on Google, I click on a search result, navigating to a retailer's site. That site knows not only what I'm looking at but what I was searching for. By way of third party cookies it knows who I am and it sends that info back to FB and the next time I'm on Instagram I'm getting ads from that category. The retailer I visited didn't have to own the FB ad network to…

> what I was searching for

I think you’re saying that Google sends the search terms to the site you visit? It doesn’t do that, at least not for a bunch of years now. As a site owner you can get aggregate ideas of what queries lead people to particular pages, but you can’t tie it to individual visitors.

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